By Daniel Beard

On the other side of waters, straw is used very commonly as sign of danger.
A
bundle of straw hanging from the arch of a bridge tells the traveler that it is
undergoing repairs or is in a dangerous condition. Some wisps of straw in a
horse's tail is a warning to all people to keep away from its heels because it
is a kicker. A handful of straw tied to a stall-post in a stable, barn or
hitching post at the fair or tavern warns the public that the horse standing
there is a vicious animal and will kick.

Vicious bulls are often labeled by having straw tied to their horns or
bunches of straw tied at the top of a pole in the fields where the bulls are
grazing or fastened to the gates leading to the pasture. One cannot coax a tramp
in South Ireland to enter a gate decorated with a wisp of straw, for that is a
notice that ill-tempered dogs are on the premises.

Weak places in the ice, air holes, etc., are strewn with straw as a warning
to the skater. Bunches of the straw are used in London to denote danger in the
streets where repairing is being done.

Among sportsmen in the Old World, especially in England, straw at the top of
a tall red pole warns the fox hunters that there is a barbed wire fence or
other, danger ahead and during the shooting season the peasantry are warned, by
stakes with straw attached, that the "gentry" are shooting there and
it is a dangerous ground.

Masons in Denmark and Norway and roof-makers in Germany use bundles of straw
to warn the passerby of danger overhead; but I know of no instances of straw
being used in this manner as a danger signal in this country, unless it is the
three tufts of grass Fig. 62. However, it might be appropriate to include a
large bunch of grass suspended from a pole or some prominent place as a danger
sign, here in America.

TRAIL SIGNS FOR DANGER, CAUTION, CALAMITY AND CRIES IN THE WILDERNESS FOR
HELP

DANGER SIGNS ON THE STREETS AND ON THE ICE. STRAW, GRABS, FLAGS, STONES AND
STICKS A9 TROUBLE SIGNS

Fig. 59. The United States flag is used to designate the condition of the
garrison, fort, ship or camp. In times of dire distress, the flag is run part
way up the mast or staff with the Union Jack upside down. Whenever this is seen
it is an appeal for assistance, telling one that the people in camp, or aboard
the ship, are in dire need of help.

Fig. 60. Three stones piled one on another; danger or help needed. (Boy Scout
sign.)

Fig. 64. Whenever you hear in the woods three reports of a gun at regular
intervals about as you would count 1, 2, 3, you must give it your immediate
attention. In the Northwest, at Mt. McKinley region and Alaska hunting ground,
Mr. Belmore Browne tells me they fire the three shots and then three more shots
to be sure to attract attention, but in other localities, usually three shots
are sufficient to call for help, and more is a waste of ammunition which must be
conserved under such circumstances

We cannot be too careful in regard to our "trouble" signs, for life
often depends upon making them understood; so keep the number 3 in your mind
as always meaning danger, trouble or a cry for help and as a sign that should be
recognized by all woodsmen.

Fig. 65. A piece of bark or wisp of grass hung on the limb of a
tree or on a tripod means that
someone is sick in camp. "Smoking a piece of birch-bark and hanging it on a
tree means, "I am sick." (J. W. Powell, U. S. Ethnological Report.)

Fig. 67. All the bark removed means a grave and dangerous situation.
According to H. L. Masta, Chief of the Abnaki Indians, cutting the bark off from
a tree on one, two, three, or four sides near the butt is to be read "have
had poor, poorer, poorest luck." Cutting it off all around the tree,
"I am starving."

Search This Site:

Search Amazon.Com:

When you place an order
with Amazon.Com using
the search box below, a small referral fee is returned to The Inquiry Net to
help defer the expense of keeping us online. Thank you for your
consideration!

Old School Scouting:
What to Do, and How to Do It!

To Email me, replace "(at)" below with
"@"Rick(at)Kudu.Net

If you have questions about one of my 2,000 pages here, you must send me the
"URL" of the page! This "URL" is sometimes called the
"Address" and it is usually found in a little box near the top of your
screen. Most
URLs start with the letters "http://"

The purpose of this Website is to provide access
to hard to find, out-of-print documents. Much of the
content has been edited to be of practical use in today's world and is not
intended as historical preservation. I will be happy to provide
scans of specific short passages in the original documents for people involved in
academic research.